Najib reneges on 1Malaysia: All eyes now on MCA, MIC, Gerakan

Has not kept any of its post-2008 promises to change

Malaysia Chronicle

As Prime Minister Najib Razak shuts the door on his own 1Malaysia plan, attention swivels to his BN partners – MCA’s Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan’s Koh Tsu Koon and MIC’s Samy Vellu. Will they finally speak up for their communities and for Malaysia?

“In one fell swoop, Najib has demonstrated that his 1Malaysia policy and all the talk about economic, social and government transformation to underpin a quantum leap for the nation to escape the middle-income trap and achieve an inclusive, sustainable high-income developed nation in 2020 are all just bunkum,” DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said in a statement.

“What is worse, his utter contempt for MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS and other Barisan Nasional component parties in his 1Malaysia scheme of things – as they are all irrelevant and immaterial to UMNO, making a complete mockery of his 1Malaysia policy.”

No doubt, few Malaysians have much confidence left in these parties. But their leaders still owe a responsibility to the communities they represent and to those who voted for them in the 2008 general election.

Their much criticized subservience to Umno – the BN boss – had led to their parties’ disastrous results at the 2008 election. Soon after that political tsunami, where the BN finally lost their two-third stranglehold of the seats in Parliament, MCA, MIC and Gerakan vowed to change. So did Najib, the Umno president.

Najib returns to his racist roots

But Najib has now not only U-turned on his fledging attempts to unite the different ethnic groups, he also publicly slapped Soi Lek, Tsu Koon and Samy in the face. At a function on Saturday, Najib again resorted to playing up racial sentiments in a bid to get the Malays in the civil service to reject the Pakatan Rakyat.

Najib - accused of being a sham

Indeed, his Umno Youth days, Najib was regarded as one of the worst racists and had helped to create the May 13, 1969 riots, where scores of non-Malays were killed.

Malaysia’s 13th general election is now around the corner, with pundits predicting Parliament will be dissolved before July 2011.

“Najib has again proven his reputation of being a hypocrite and the MCA, MIC and Gerakan as ostriches which do nothing but bury their heads to keep their cushy Cabinet positions,” PKR vice president Lee Boon Chye toldMalaysia Chronicle.

“Despite their post-2008 promises, the BN has not changed at all. It is incapable of doing so because there is just too much of vested interest involved. Mark my words, Soi Lek, Tsu Koon and Samy will just pretend they didn’t hear what Najib said.”

When launching the Umno Club for retired government servants at his official residence at Seri Perdana, the PM said he was baffled there were civil servants and government pensioners who supported the opposition.

“Civil servants should know better that it is only Umno that can ensure our survival. I want to ask who were the ones who questioned Article 153 in the Constitution [on] Malay privileges; who questioned them?,”Bernama reported Najib as saying.

“Who caused the incident of not offering prayers for the well-being of the king? Who wanted Universiti Teknologi Mara to be opened to the non-Malays? Not Umno, but the other side.”